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BERLIOZ: BENVENUTO CELLINI
(VAI)
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Video Artist International has just begun an important CD series: recordings of live performances by Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston. The first release, in the nick of time for Berlioz’s bicentennial, is his opera about the adventures of Renaissance sculptor and libertine Benvenuto Cellini, which just had its Metropolitan Opera premiere. Caldwell often beat the Met to the punch — this time it’s by 28 years. The 1975 performance is in English, and it’s remarkable how clearly the words get through, even without the help of an enclosed libretto. The powerful and beloved (and occasionally reviled) Canadian tenor Jon Vickers sings the swashbuckling title role with dash and vigor in his only performance in this part. The cast also includes the irrepressible Donald Gramm (impressive as the demanding Pope Clement VII), Patricia Wells, John Reardon, and such fine OCB regulars as Gimi Beni, Joey Evans, Nancy Williams, and David Evitts. Caldwell both staged and conducted. No one who saw the production will ever forget the blazing scene in which Cellini fires his statue of Perseus. Her conducting is sweeping, lively to the point of raucousness. The vitality never lets up for a moment. What fun opera in Boston was in 1975! This is not merely a souvenir of a lost era but a vivid example of how exciting an opera production can be, even just to listen to.
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